tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-563539329592161652.post8373061347423785890..comments2017-08-07T10:44:08.208-04:00Comments on Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The New Postal Service: Constraints Slows ServiceAlan Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18015201735147037122noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-563539329592161652.post-27092971297013950492011-09-06T16:02:21.353-04:002011-09-06T16:02:21.353-04:00Given the low morale of postal employees in light ...Given the low morale of postal employees in light of the uncertainty of their continued employment, debating mail entering at a DDU or DSCF is akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.<br /><br />Do you actually think postal employees give a rat&#39;s ass about mail delivery? If you do, you&#39;re living in Candy Land.<br /><br />Clerks in the office I&#39;m familiar with routinely &quot;roll over&quot; mail (including 1st Class) from one day to the next to the next to the next until carriers are delivering expired sale coupons. That&#39;s postal reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-563539329592161652.post-28022101971458422392011-09-06T02:07:46.423-04:002011-09-06T02:07:46.423-04:00A couple comments I would like to make.
1) I expec...A couple comments I would like to make.<br />1) I expect many of the parcel delivery standards could be maintained near what they are now even with fewer plants. Much depends on the type of transportation used between plants for parcels. Parcels are not sequenced in plants and consequently don’t suffer quite the same processing constraints as delivery sequenced mail.<br />2) I don’t think that deliveries farther from the plant will ever require an additional 2 days. It will be one day of delay over current standards. The chance of preventing that one day of delay by drop shipping at the plant is just remote. I actually expect the percentage of mail “on time” with the new extra day standard will be higher than the current percentage “on time” rate. It probably will take a few months to get there though as the kinks are worked out of a new system.<br />3) Most 3 day first class mail won’t even need an extra day of service. With 60% less plants each plant is going to have significantly more mail destined for every other plant than it does currently. Thus most if not all “intermediate” plants will no longer be needed. Each originating plant will likely have enough mail for every other plant to justify finalizing sort to the DSCF when mail first enters the system. This will avoid the extra day that hitting an intermediate plant currently causes for 3 day mail.uncommonsensenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-563539329592161652.post-42852563545584861842011-09-06T01:35:14.535-04:002011-09-06T01:35:14.535-04:00Actually service for mail entered at the DSCF (pla...Actually service for mail entered at the DSCF (plant at which the mail is finalized for delivery) will be better than the service for mail entered at the DDU. Any mail entered at the DDU that is able to be processed on automation will make a trip to the DSCF for processing before coming back to the DDU for delivery. This will result in poorer service performance for mail dropped at the DDU than mail dropped at the DSCF.<br />I know this seems illogical but there is a good reason for it. The USPS will ship the mail back to the plant because it costs significantly less to have a machine comingle the mail into delivery order at the rate of 5 pieces per second than it does to pay a carrier by the hour to comingle the mail into delivery order at a rate 15 times slower. The labor savings is many times the extra transportation cost.<br />The USPS should actually give less of a discount for mail dropped at the DDU than for mail entered at the DSCF because it costs it more to deliver. Encouraging automatable mail to be dropped at the DDU is the wrong thing for the USPS to do financially.uncommonsensenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-563539329592161652.post-19439662274229507602011-09-03T12:39:02.107-04:002011-09-03T12:39:02.107-04:00Mailers and mail originators understand that this ...Mailers and mail originators understand that this &quot;Network Optimization,&quot; combined with the end of 6-day delivery, if Congress decides to grant it, spell the end of USPS as we have known it in modern times. <br /><br />While it can be argued that USPS must make these changes, in reality both will achieve less cost savings than projected (since employees don&#39;t go away immediately, but over several years). And the severe downgrade in service that will inevitably result will move the Postal Service into the category of &quot;unreliable service provider.&quot;<br /><br />Only those who enter at the DDU (delivery office) will experience decent delivery, and more mail will and should be moved there. USPS will only be a last-mile vendor of reliable delivery. <br /><br />And Congress and the govt. shares in the responsibility with the unfortunate PAEA prepayment requirement of Retiree Health Benefits. And no agency wants to return any overpayment, like FERS, or face consideration of a CSRS fix.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com